EXCLUSIVE: Michael Keaton, Samuel L. Jackson, and Maggie Q are set to star in The Asset, an action-thriller from The Foreigner and Casino Royale director Martin Campbell and The Expendables outfit Millennium Media. It’s a package to warm the hearts of AFM action aficionados.
Arthur Sarkissian of the Rush Hour franchise will produce, along with Moshe Diamant (The Hurricane Heist) and Rob Van Norden (Rambo: Last Blood).
Written by Richard Wenk (The Equalizer 2), the story follows Rembrandt (Keaton) and Anna (Maggie Q), two of the world’s premier assassins who share a mysterious past from Vietnam. For years, they traversed the globe competing for high-profile contracts. But when Anna’s mentor Moody (Jackson) is murdered, she and Rembrandt must form an uneasy alliance and return to Vietnam to track down his killer.
Millennium is handling world sales and will launch the fun-sounding project at the AFM this week. Production is due to begin January 8, 2020, and filming will take place in London, Bucharest, and DaNang, Vietnam.
Executive producing are Avi Lerner, Trevor Short, Boaz Davidson, Jeffrey Greenstein, Jonathan Yunger, Gareth West, Christa Campbell, Lati Grobman, and co-executive producing is Lonnie Ramati.
Millennium’s Jeffrey Greenstein said, “The Asset is the whole package, and we are excited to bring Richard Wenk’s masterful, muscular script to life with the all-star talent of Michael, Samuel, and Maggie. Having a great director like Martin Campbell at the helm will make all the difference in turning this into a big, stylish, and action-packed thrill ride.”
Upcoming for Oscar-nominee Keaton are Sara Colangelo’s real-life biopic What Is Life Worth, which he is also producing, and Aaron Sorkin’s The Trial of Chicago 7 set for release from Paramount in September 2020.
Fellow Academy nominee Jackson has The Banker upcoming and he recently wrapped on Millennium sequel The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard alongside Salma Hayek and Ryan Reynolds.
Maggie Q will next be seen in Sony/Blumhouse’s Fantasty Island, out February 14, 2020. Best known for her starring role as Toni in the Divergent film franchise, she also starred in Mission Impossible III, Live Free or Die Hard, and Priest.
Keaton is repped by ICM Partners and Ziffren Brittenham, Jackson by ICM Partners, Anonymous Content & Jackoway Tyerman, and Maggie Q by ICM Partners & Untitled.